Azerbaijan's president says plane was hit over Russia in unintentional incident

BAKU — Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev said on Sunday that the Azerbaijan Airlines or AZAL civilian aircraft, which crash-landed near Aktau of Kazakhstan last week, was hit over Russia, though the incident was unintentional.

The Embraer 190 aircraft, Flight J2-8243 from Baku to Grozny, crashed near Aktau city on Wednesday, with 62 passengers and five crew members on board. Thirty-eight people were killed and 29 were rescued.

In an interview with Azerbaijan Television, Aliyev revealed that the jet sustained external damage over Russian territory near Grozny, with electronic warfare systems destabilizing its controls and a ground fire severely damaging the plane.